head and heart

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I read this the other day and it took my breath away. I thought I might share it with others who are equally passionate about their gardens.

“Beauty awaits me every day in our garden…

No matter how much I need to get done in my office, I find myself wandering outside several times throughout the day, lest I miss some new development. Sometimes I just want to breathe the air the plants breathe and watch them lift in the wind, or shove my head among tomato leaves and come in smelling of that dusky-war summer-afternoon perfume that’s exactly like the fruit’s.

I love the feeling of my life among theirs, the sense of myself, however fleetingly, as the same sort of heedless, careless force of nature, soaking in the sun, turning toward the light, tended by it, fed by it, and fed too by the plants I tend.

It seems fundamental and right, yet it’s also constantly surprising.
How much beauty there is in this garden.
How well it nourishes on so many levels.
How much of it I carry in my head and heart when I’m away from it.”
– Susan Heeger, Whole Living Magazine March 2012

This week, I:
– finally got aluminum sulfate and put some in the hydrangea pots. The packaging said I could either mix it with water or just add it to the soil dry and water it in, so I chose the latter. I hope it doesn’t burn/destroy the plants that way. We’ll see if the hydrangea turn back to blue/periwinkle.

– got a good start on my hummingbird/butterfly garden on the little porch next to the lanai. I planted the following seeds: sunflower (Lemon Queen), Persian Carpet zinnia, Cha Cha butterfly zinnia, thunbergia (Black Eyed Susan Vine, hoping it will curl all over the railing up the steps). I also pulled out the decrepit cucumber plant from the giant planter at the bottom of the steps (it just wasn’t doing anything) and in the coming days I’m going to replace it with some shrimp plant that I’ve rooted out in a jar of water. I also have some salvia I’m trying to propagate. I don’t know how to propogate it, so I stuck a stalk in a jar of water. I need to look that up… I also planted a few nasturtium seeds (SURPRISE SURPRISE! ) that I hope will also vine around the stair railing. I figure all of that will make for a colorful, attractive hummingbird and butterfly garden just on the other side of the screen door.

– finally cut off the giant droopy sunflower heads. *sigh* They were shedding their petals and about to snap the stalks in two, so I just went ahead and did it today. There are smaller sunflower blossoms about to bloom alongside, but I had been putting off deadheading the big, primary flowers. Today I snipped them off and put the giant flowers out on the back stairs to dry out, hoping maybe some birds can come and dine on the seeds.

– Ginger fell in the pool today. Not sure *what* happened, but she came back in the house with water streaming off of her, hissing at Chester. I have a feeling she was messing around in the garden and Chester snuck up on her. He prowls around the lanai in the morning like the king he is, and if Ginger is back there before he does the morning inspection, it’s not to his liking.

– Did a little organic pest control (Safer brand soap) on the mint and the black eyed susan. I HATE mealybugs so much. HATE!

– OH… I forgot to tell you (all) that I found yet ANOTHER pup (that’s three!) on Stinky Grandpa Bromeliad. THAT was all sorts of awesome.